While You Were Away
by Julia Fernandez Hiwatari
Summary: A typical day for the young couple.


While You Were Away

Sasuke X Sakura

Rated T

One-Shot

"I know that you're hiding things, using gentle words to shelter me. Your words were like a dream," came a lovely voice from inside the shower. The showerhead was soon turned off. "but dreams could never fool me. Not that easily,"

A young woman with long, waist length pink hair opened the white curtain of the steamy room and grabbed her towel from the toilet seat. "I acted so distant then. Didn't say goodbye before you left. But I was listening," she sang while she dried herself off and stepped out of the shower.

She opened the door. "Save your tears cause I'll come back. I could hear that you whispered as you walked through that door, but still I swore, to hide the pain when I turned back the pages."

She walked around, trying to find something to wear. "Shouting might've been the answer. What if I'd cried my eyes out and begged you not to depart. But now I'm strong enough to say what's in my heart. …Oh a thousand words. One thousand confessions, they'll cradle you. Passing over the time. I know they're reaching you. They'll hold you forever-" A loud and sudden crash from downstairs cut the emerald eyed woman off.

Standing in front of her body mirror, Sakura Haruno looked toward the source of the noise.

"Downstairs? In the kitchen?" she thought. Despite wearing only her baby blue robe, she headed downstairs. She ran as fast as her feet could carry her.

Upon reaching the entryway her jaw dropped. There were bags of flour ripped open and spilt everywhere. The jars full of her mother's homemade jams were also open, and the glass was shattered and scattered all over the floor.

"This is going to take forever to clean up," Sakura whined.

In the piles of flour Sakura could see tiny hand and, what appeared to be, foot prints. She followed them and was led to a small room. The room she knew to be the nursery.

There, in the crib, lay their eighteen-month-old daughter. She was sleeping soundly curled up in a little ball, and though she was, Sakura could plainly see the patches of flour on her pink footie pajamas, along with the many splotches and smears of their various flavored jams. It was all in her hair too. The baby's usually neat raven locks were messy and went in every direction possible. Sakura smiled at her. She loved when their baby girl was sleeping this well, but…

"Come on, little one," Sakura said as she gently lifted her up and held her close. "you need a bath," she added in a soothing tone. The baby made no noise or movement, showing how deep in sleep she really was. After giving their rambunctious angel her bath, Sakura carefully put her on her back to sleep and left the room to both finish getting dressed and to go clean up the kitchen.

Later, just after nightfall, Sasuke Uchiha came walking through the front door. He hung his black cloak on the coatrack and headed for the kitchen. There he found his wife of a little over a year dumping what appeared to be shards of glass and dust into the trashcan. Their eyes met the moment she put the last of the flour and glass into the black bag. The dustpan hit the floor.

"Sasuke,"

"I'm home, Sakura," She ran up and embraced him. His single arm wrapped around her aswell.

"I'm glad you made it back safe and sound. It's been too long,"

"A month,"

"I missed you," He leaned into her.

"Ah,"

"Tea?"

"Yeah."

While sitting at the table, Sasuke noticed how clean the kitchen was. It had been cleaned recently, today. It looked immaculate.

"Not that you're not a good housewife. You're great,"

"But?"

"What made you clean the kitchen so thoroughly,"

"Sarada,"

"What's happened now?"

"She knocked over and got into the flour and jams."

"I told you to put them on the counter before I left. Now we're going to have ants and she probably needs a bath,"

"Sasuke, I gave her a bath, _and_ got all of it cleaned up before you got here and we won't have ants, I sprayed for them. The least you could give me is a thank you. Not question my parenting or my housekeeping skills while you're away on missions. She must've snuck out of her crib while I was in the shower earlier today. You know how quiet she can be. She's the daughter of two splendid Shinobi. Did you expect anything else?"

Sasuke admitted that she had a point, and he couldn't argue with her. Nor did he feel like it.

"Sakura," The pinkette looked at him. He could tell she was angry and a little hurt, but she was trying to hide it. "Thank you, for all you've done up til now," he said as he poked her forehead. Sakura smiled. She could feel the love he had for her in that touch. It made her feel loved, and reminded her that he still loved her and that he loved her to the best of his ability.

"Sorry, Sakura. I'm ill-mannered, I know. Forgive me?" She sighed.

"Always." A bit of silence past between them.

"Sarada is upstairs if you want to see her,"

"I'll see her tomorrow. For now," he smiled. "I just want to spend time with you." Sakura blushed.

"Y-you've never been this forward before," she shyly said.

"What? A man can't initiate. That's not fair. You can't have control all the time." That's when Sasuke took her by the hand and led her upstairs.

Standing at their bedside, Sasuke laid her down.

"Let's wake the neighbors, shall we?" She was going to say something, but Sasuke's tongue on her neck cut her off, making her moan. Now that he felt he could, Sasuke was going to show her what it was truly like to have an Uchiha as your husband.


End file.
